Usual
About
Usual is a decentralized protocol that issues USD0, a fiat stablecoin fully backed by Real-World Assets (primarily US Treasury Bills). It combines the security of real assets with DeFi composability while redistributing 100% of protocol value back to users through the USUAL governance token. The protocol transforms stablecoin issuance by giving users ownership and revenue rights traditionally captured by centralized issuers like Tether and Circle.
Where Does Yield Come From?
Yield is generated through multiple layers working together.
First, the underlying assets earn interest. USD0 is backed by real-world assets (mainly US Treasury Bills). These assets produce yield, which supports the overall system.
Second, the protocol earns revenue from its operations. This includes fees from issuing and managing the stablecoin. 100% of this revenue goes to the community, not to a centralized company.
Third, there are specific yield products for users:
- bUSD0 is a bond-like product: locking USD0 for four years earns daily rewards paid in USUAL tokens.
- sUSD0 is a savings product: its value increases over time, so holding it accrues yield.
- USD0a offers delta-neutral strategies (designed to be insulated from market moves).
Fourth, the USUAL token itself generates yield. When you stake USUAL (becoming USUALx), you receive 22% of the new USUAL tokens created daily. You also become eligible for weekly Revenue Switch distributions, where protocol revenue is converted to USD0 and paid out to locked stakers.
Fifth, liquidity providers earn rewards. People who supply tokens to trading pools receive USUAL tokens from dedicated allocation buckets.
The Revenue Switch (activated January 2025) turns protocol revenue into USD0 and distributes it weekly to stakers with locked USUALx. This creates a direct yield stream from the protocol's economics to token holders.
Persons
Adli Takkal Bataille
Directeur exécutif & Co-fondateur
LinkedInPierre Person
Author
Pierre Cumenal
Author
Anthony Levesque
Author
Audits
| Audit / Date | Findings | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
Cantina Managed24-11-2024 |
| The review uncovered one critical-path high-severity bug and several medium-severity flaws in reward distribution and fee logic, but the Usual team addressed the majority of findings before deployment, leaving residual low-risk and informational issues that do not threaten core protocol safety. |
Cantina Managed21-05-2025 - 27-05-2025 |
| The review uncovered moderate risks primarily around fee handling and oracle design, with most issues either fixed or acknowledged; the protocol's security posture appears reasonable after the audit's remediation steps. |
| The audit report was unavailable for analysis due to fetch/conversion failure; no findings or assessment can be determined from the retrieved content. | |
Cantina Managed26-06-2025 |
| The audit found no critical or high severity vulnerabilities, with only one low-risk issue related to depeg assumptions and several informational improvements, all of which have been either fixed or acknowledged by the development team. |
Cantina Managed13-05-2025 - 17-05-2025 |
| The security review found only three informational issues related to event emissions, documentation, and rounding behavior, all of which were promptly fixed, indicating a robust codebase with no significant security vulnerabilities. |
Sherlock01-10-2025 |
| The audit revealed several medium-severity issues primarily around oracle data handling and contract initialization, with most findings already resolved or acknowledged by the team before deployment. |
Hexens20-10-2025 - 03-11-2025 |
| The audit found only minor low-severity and informational issues, all of which were addressed by the team, indicating the protocol's core security is sound with no major vulnerabilities identified. |
Halborn21-10-2025 - 23-10-2025 |
| Halborn's audit found no critical or high-severity vulnerabilities, with all identified issues either resolved or accepted by the protocol team, indicating the codebase was reasonably secure at the time of assessment. |
Hexens03-11-2025 - 20-11-2025 |
| The audit revealed no critical or high-severity vulnerabilities, with the single medium issue being properly fixed and all other findings addressed or acknowledged, significantly strengthening the protocol's security posture. |
Sherlock01-11-2025 |
| The audit revealed several medium-to-high severity issues primarily around access control, fee logic, and oracle dependencies, with most findings marked as resolved post-review, indicating the protocol team addressed critical security concerns before deployment. |
Sherlock01-11-2025 |
| The audit identified implementation mismatches and incomplete refactoring issues in the bUSD0 upgrade, all marked as resolved, suggesting the upgrade was reviewed and corrected before deployment. |
Hexens17-11-2025 - 03-12-2025 |
| The audit found no security vulnerabilities, only informational code quality issues that were addressed by the team, indicating a strong security posture for the bUSD0 upgrade with no major risks identified. |
Paladin Blockchain Security11-10-2024 |
| The audit found no critical, high, or medium severity vulnerabilities, with only low and informational issues that were largely resolved, indicating the codebase is relatively secure though with acknowledged centralization risks in admin privileges. |
| Unable to assess the security implications as the audit report was inaccessible for analysis; the competition page failed to load despite multiple attempts. |
Backers
Usual has raised a total of $17 million across two funding rounds. The Seed Round in April 2024 raised $7 million with key investors including IOSG Ventures, Kraken Ventures, GSR, Mantle, and StarkWare. The Series A Round in December 2024 raised $10 million, led by Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures, with participation from Galaxy Digital and OKX Ventures. Additional strategic investors include exchange ecosystems (Binance Labs, Kraken Ventures, OKX Ventures), DeFi-native funds (IOSG Ventures, GSR, Galaxy Digital), and infrastructure partners (Mantle, StarkWare). The insider token allocation was originally 10% of USUAL token emissions, restructured in November 2025 to approximately 30.25% of the total supply (~910.8 million USUAL). Vesting follows a 1-year cliff from TGE (November 25, 2024) with 33.33% unlocking at cliff end, then monthly vesting through June 2028.
Legal
Legal form
French association (Association de Développement de la DAO Usual) and French simplified joint stock company (Up Only Co/Usual Labs)
Registration jurisdiction
France, Paris; registered with INSEE under SIREN 925 013 245 (association) and Commercial and Companies Register of Paris under number 919 540 427 (company)
Status and notes
Protocol provided by Association de Développement de la DAO Usual, a French law association. Interface and website operated by Up Only Co (doing business as Usual Labs), a French simplified joint stock company. Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Legal Notice available in documentation. Both entities registered in Paris, France.